With Akron’s bicentennial coming up in 2025, the Rubber City has a lot of history to explore, and there’s more than just rubber.
Whether you’re looking to explore a new place connected to local history, or you just need the highlights for a history buff friend or family member that’s visiting from out of town, this post will point you to 12 must-see historical places in Akron.
Historic House Museums
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
Perhaps one of Akron’s most well-known attractions is Stan Hywet, but it’s for a good reason. The family home of F.A. Seiberling, co-founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and his wife Gertrude, was completed in 1915. Sitting on 70 acres, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens is the sixth largest historic home that is open to the public.
Stan Hywet was recently the filming location for Antiques Roadshow’s stop in Akron. The episodes will air in April and May 2024 on PBS.
Hower House Museum
Another historic house worth visiting is the Hower House, located on Fir Hill on the University of Akron’s campus. The 28-room Second Empire Italianate style mansion was built for John Henry Hower, an Akron industrialist, and was completed in 1871. Hower worked in the milling, reaping, and cereal industries (other industries Akron was known for before it became the rubber capital of the world). The mansion was inhabited by Hower family members for over 100 years before it was deeded to the University of Akron in 1970. Today the house is open to the public for tours and contains many of the Hower family’s personal belongings.
Perkins Stone Mansion & John Brown House
Both the Perkins Stone Mansion and John Brown House are owned and maintained by the Summit County Historical Society. The Perkins Stone Mansion was completed in 1837 for Colonel Simon Perkins, son of General Simon Perkins, one of Akron’s co-founders.
Just across the street is the John Brown House, where abolitionist John Brown and his family lived from 1844 to 1854. Brown rented the house from Perkins, and during that time the two men worked together in the sheep and wool business. By 1853, Perkins-Brown flock contained 1,300 Merino and Saxony sheep. The sheep lived on the hills near Copley Road and Portage Path which was nicknamed “Mutton Hill.”
Today, the historical society hosts a small flock of local sheep in the summer months on the grounds of the Perkins Stone Mansion.
Dr. Bob’s Home
Did you know that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has its beginnings in Akron? There’s also a Stan Hywet connection. Henrietta Seiberling brought together Bill Wilson of New York and Dr. Bob Smith of Akron at the Gate Lodge at Stan Hywet in 1935. This meeting and subsequent meetings with Bill, Dr. Bob, Dr. Bob’s wife Anne, and Henrietta, led to the founding of AA.
Dr. Bob’s Home is located in Highland Square and is open to the public as a museum. You can learn more about Bob and Anne’s life as well as the history of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Monuments and Museums
Glendale Cemetery
Not all cemeteries are spooky, decrepit places. Some are quite peaceful, but they’re all full of history. One of Akron’s most well-known cemeteries is Glendale Cemetery, where everyday Akronites and some of Akron’s most notable figures (F.A. Seiberling, Simon Perkins, and O.C. Barber to name a few) are buried. Founded in 1839, Glendale Cemetery is a rural cemetery, meaning that it was designed with rolling hills and greenery and meant to be enjoyed by the living.
Some other historic cemeteries in Akron to check out are Akron Hebrew Cemetery, East Akron Cemetery, Middlebury Cemetery (Akron’s first public cemetery), Mount Peace Cemetery, and South Street Jewish Cemetery. Be sure to check the operating hours before you visit a cemetery, and note that some of these cemeteries are not open to the public, but you can view them from the street.
John Brown Monument
One of the most famous abolitionists in American history, John Brown spent most of his childhood in Hudson, Ohio, and later lived in Akron in what is known today as the John Brown House (see above). To commemorate his life’s work and his time in Akron, a monument was dedicated to Brown in Akron in 1910.
Unfortunately, the John Brown Monument is located on what is today the Akron Zoo’s property, and isn’t regularly accessible to the public. You’ll have to attend one of the Summit County Historical Society’s hikes up to the monument, which they typically do once or twice a year. The hikes are announced on their website and Facebook page.
Mustill Store Museum
Learn about Akron’s canal history at the Mustill Store Museum, the site of a once-bustling store that serviced those using the canal at Lock 15 from approximately the 1840s to the late 1880s. The store was first owned by Joseph and Sarah Mustill. Today the historic site is operated by the Cascade Locks Park Association and the museum is open April through October Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
Goodyear Airdock
One of Akron’s most famous structures is the Goodyear Airdock, a construction and storage airship hangar. Completed in 1929, it was the largest building in the world without interior support. Although it’s not typically open to the public, you can’t miss it driving down U.S. Route 224.
Howard Street
Today it’s hard to imagine the once-bustling area that was Howard Street in the first half of the 20th century. During its peak, it was a hub for Akron’s African American community. Most of this business district was later wiped out due to the Innerbelt project in the 1970s and 1980s.
A historical landmark for Hotel Mathews, a hotel owned by successful African American entrepreneur George Mathews from the 1930s to the 1960s, is located at the intersection of North Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. You can also take a look at some images of Howard Street in its heyday on Summit Memory.
Sojourner Truth Plaza & Statue
One of Akron’s newest monuments is the Sojourner Truth Plaza and forthcoming statue, located at the former site of the Universalist Stone Church, where formerly enslaved abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth spoke during the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. The speech she gave did not originally have a title, but it is known as the “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech.
The plaza is located on High Street next to the Sojourner Truth Building. A statue of Truth will be unveiled on May 29, 2024.
Portage Path
The Portage Path is more than just the name of a street in Akron, it’s part of the area’s history thousands of years before the city of Akron was founded. The Portage Path was an 8-mile well-traveled trail for portaging, the practice of transporting watercraft or cargo between two bodies of water via land. Indigenous people from Shawnee, Lenni Lenape, Iroquois, and potentially other nearby tribes used the Portage Path. French and English traders, and then finally American settlers, also portaged between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers until 1827 when the portage trail became a trail for the Ohio and Erie Canal.
A popular place to walk part of the Portage Path is on Summit Metro Parks’ Chuckery Trail. The Signal Tree located on this trail served as the northernmost point of the Portage Path.
>> Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Summit Metro Parks – And What to Do Before or After Your Hike
BONUS! Akron History Museum
Akron will soon have its own history museum! The Akron History Center, managed by the Akron-Summit County Public Library, will be located on South Main Street in the Bowery building and is scheduled to open later this year.
Explore Akron’s History
Dig into the past by exploring these historical places. Which one are you visiting first?
Tell us on social media! Include #ExploreMore2024AK in your captions across platforms and tag @everydayakron in your posts. We’re excited to see the fun you have!
Looking for more ways to explore Akron in 2024? Check out the Explore More in 2024 page for updates.
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